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Topic: What is an autotroph and why would it drool? (Read 30659 times)

As a fan of "The Big Bang Theory" which does an excellent job at reducing the magnificence of Physics down to a lowest common denomenator sitcom (but still holds up to scrutiny by sci fi enthusiasts), I have often wondered at the line the theme tune referring to the question I just asked.

So in the context of the timeline between the theoretical big bang and "The big Bang Theory" theme tune, where do "autotrophs" fit in?

Autotrophs are creatures that can make their own food by the use of sunlight (eg algae & plants) or by breaking down inorganic chemicals (eg bacteria around deep-ocean volcanic vents). They form the base of the food chain, and form the food source for the heterotrophs (which includes us). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autotroph

The "drool" comes because it rhymes with "cool" and "tool" on adjacent lines, but I guess it is saying that the autotrophs lived, consumed raw materials and grew.

More properly, it would be the heterotrophs drooling over the autotrophs (since saliva is required to digest food), but autotrophs already has too many syllables, and heterotrophs would really play havoc with the metre...

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